Stage 3 - Accidents and GC Drama

The biggest news of today was the severity of the accidents.  While flying down hill at about 80 Km/hr, one or more riders bumped into others and caused two huge chain-reaction accidents.  About 40 riders hit the pavement.  With so many riders sprawled on the ground, and the roadway full of ambulances and support cars, the race officials stopped the race for about 10 minutes.  The official race car led the survivors to the top of the next hill and then officially restarted the race.  The most severely injured seems to be William Bonnet (FDJ), with fractured vertebrae in his neck.  He and three others abandoned immediately.  Others, including Cancellara in the Yellow Jersey, resumed riding and finished the stage.  But Cancellara not only lost the Yellow Jersey, he was diagnosed after the race with fractured vertebrae in his back, so he will not continue tomorrow.

The stage winner today was Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez (Katusha).  He surged up the final steep hill to victory, with only Chris Froome (Sky) able to stay close enough to claim the same time.  But even in 2^nd place, Froome was the big winner, as he captured the Yellow Jersey, and improved his time margins against all GC challengers.  Contador, Nibali and Quintana, the rest of the so-called “Big Four,” trail Froome by one-half to two full minutes.  Eight others are within three minutes of Froome, with Van Garderen being closest at -13 seconds.  These first stages were not supposed to impact the GC standings.  But if Froome continues to gain small increments in these “safe” stages, he and his strong Sky team will be in a position of defensive strength heading into the mountains.

On another front, André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) (whose withdrawal I prematurely announced) has staked the first serious claim for the Green Jersey – sprinting points.  By winning Stage 2 and scoring points in both intermediate sprints, he has accumulated 75 points, beating Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) at his own game.  Sagan trails with only 48 points.  It’s way to early to anoint a winner in this category, but Greipel seems to understand the importance of contesting the intermediate points as well as the finish line battles.

Nan Kennard conquering the steepest part of the Second King, in North Salt Lake's 2015 edition of the Three Kings Bike Challenge.  Nan won third place among all women riders in this year's race.  The climbs in this annual race are as steep as the Mur de Huy in today's Tour de France Stage 3. 

Aaron Kennard laboring to drop a competitor on the steepest part of the Second King, in North Salt Lake's 2015 edition of the Three Kings Bike Challenge.  He readily conceded that his wife had already dropped him!